Tag Archives: Stiffness

Jose Reyes remains questionable for tonight’s game with the Washington Nationals with stiffness in his lower back.

The Mets might be off the rug tonight in Washington, but if Jerry Manuel holds to form of sitting a player the day after he’s removed from a game by injury – or in this case, from pre-game batting practice – then Reyes will sit.

And, he should.

REYES: Give him another day.

Reyes isn’t porcelain china, but he’s extraordinarily valuable to this team and should be protected. The Mets made remarkable strides in June and would risk taking a step back if Reyes were to aggravate this injury and go on one of those prolonged “he’s ready, he’s not ready,’’ situations.

Presumably, this isn’t a serious injury and another day or two shouldn’t hurt. The last thing the Mets need is to push Reyes unnecessarily and risk losing him.

The Mets behind Jon Niese will attempt to win the rubber game of their series at Cincinnati this afternoon and go home 3-3 on the road trip. A let down of sorts after their 9-1 homestand, but considering what happened in Philly, I’ll take it.

Niese is coming off a superb start last Friday in Philadelphia, prompting one anonymous Phillie to say he’s better than any pitcher the Phillies have “not named Halladay.”

To me, the key story of the day is how the Mets are handling Mike Pelfrey’s tight shoulder. Pelfrey was hammered in his last start, and afterward complained of stiffness in his shoulder. An MRI Monday was negative, but even so the Mets bagged his normal throw day yesterday and today he had a light abbreviated bullpen session.

Pitching coach Dan Warthen said the decision to cancel his normal bullpen was to not force the issue, but also said Pelfrey is good to go this weekend against San Francisco.

I say, why bother?

There’s reason enough to be concerned so shouldn’t the prudent thing be to have him skip his start to be sure he’s sound. We’re talking a game in May. Isn’t it better to miss one game now rather than four or five later should he go on the disabled list for a prolonged time?

When it comes to a pitcher’s arm, I always anticipate the worse and believe it is better to be cautious now rather than regretful later. They don’t need Pelfrey as much this weekend as they do later this season.

R.A. Dickey is pitching well for Triple-A Buffalo and could be brought up for an emergency start.